Ready for a Hotter Climate? Building Resilience into the Education Estate

Beyond Carbon: The Cooling, Carbon and Learning Value of Trees in Education Environments
Ellie Wade, Mace Consult

What if the most effective cooling system for a school also became one of its most powerful teaching tools? Bringing together expertise in Landscape Architecture, Carbon Modelling and Outdoor Learning, this session explores the measurable value of strategically placed trees. Through an education-sector case study, we will assess how trees can reduce overheating, lower operational carbon emissions and sequester carbon, while supporting wellbeing, outdoor learning and children's connection to nature. Discover how trees can become critical infrastructure for future school environments.

EPSRC School Yard Project
Professor Marialena Nikolopoulou, University of Kent | Dejan Mumovic, University College London

Children spend 30% of their time at school and 30% of that time in playgrounds. It’s well-recognised that outdoor play and learning is important for their health, wellbeing and cognitive development but children are often identified as a vulnerable group with respect to heat-health and climate change. With 15 national heat records having been broken in this year alone, it’s vital that we develop an understanding of the impact of outdoor exposure on children in a warming world so that spaces, like playgrounds, can be designed specifically for the thermal comfort and heat health of children. We need guidelines that will advise how schools can better design playgrounds in a way that is more comfortable across different seasons. The guidance will inform policy-makers, planners and building professionals, and help to deliver active, healthy lifestyles for children.